The Cooperative Institute for Climate, Ocean, and Ecosystem Studies

‘Perfect storm’: El Niño goes off the charts

By Dinah Voyles Pulver and Janet Loehrke, USA TODAY
Featuring quotes by Michael McPhaden
Sea surface temperatures just hit a record high in a 2.4-million square mile region of the deep Pacific Ocean known as Niño 3.4, the key area scientists are tracking to measure the rapidly strengthening El Niño. 

NOAA dispatches Saildrones to probe the engine of El Niño

By NOAA Research
On August 21, 2026, two orange Saildrone Explorer uncrewed surface vehicles departed Honolulu, Hawaii, bound for a vast, remote stretch of the eastern Pacific Ocean where a historic El Niño is gaining strength. 

Two giant warming patterns are brewing in the Pacific and warping US weather

By Isabelle Gerretsen, BBC
A rare but powerful combination of an immense Pacific Ocean heatwave and a “super El Niño” are set to have profound effects on US weather and marine life this autumn. 

CICOES researcher Elizabeth McHuron featured in UW News’ August research highlights

By Sarah McQuate, Stefan Milne, Gillian Dohrn, and William Poor, UW News
Nursing is a major energy suck, but it’s difficult to estimate the toll for many marine mammals
Marine mammals lactate like any other mammal, but the energetic demands are difficult to measure in wild animals and thus not well understood.  

New satellite tag offers longer tracking of baleen whales

By NOAA Fisheries
How do you track a 40-ton ocean giant without leaving a mark? Monitoring large whales is a delicate balancing act between science and safety.  

Advancing autonomous eDNA capacity with the McLane RoCSI

By Shannon Brown, CICOES
The Ocean Molecular Ecology (OME) group at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory—which is supported by several CICOES scientists—is expanding its technological capabilities to monitor long-term marine ecosystem dynamics across the Pacific Northwest and U.S. 

CICOES postdoc Matt Luongo featured in UW News’ July research highlights

By Gillian Dohrn, Lauren Kirschman and William Poor, UW News
Climate models get a vote of confidence in a new UW study mapping tropical ocean temperature over time
Climate models help researchers understand how conditions are changing over time to forecast what is likely to happen in the future. 

CICOES-funded researcher named Fulbright Scholar

Eight University of Washington researchers have been selected as Fulbright Scholars for 2026-2027 and will pursue studies around the world. 

CICOES Director John Horne helps bring Arctic research to life at the Anchorage Museum

By Joe Selmont
What does it look like to study a changing Arctic from aboard a research ship? 

The Man Who Learned to Follow Whales: An Argos Profile of Alex Zerbini

By the Argos Team

How a Childhood Encounter Inspired a Marine Biologist
In the sheltered bays of Península Valdés, on the Atlantic coast of Argentina, a southern right whale rolls at the surface and vents a plume of mist into the cold air.